Inside Sam Walker's shameless criminal past from courtroom TikToks to jail phone 'up his bottom'
Career criminal Sam Walker is no stranger to controversy and hit the headlines again this week after he was dressed down by a judge for live streaming on TikTok from a courtroom
Sam Walker found himself in trouble with a judge after he was caught live streaming on TikTok from inside the courtroom this week.
Walker, a career criminal convicted of more than 100 offences, has spent most of his adult life behind bars for crimes ranging from violence to drug supply. Throughout his life of crime he has been no stranger to controversy - engaging in public feuds with figures such as fellow Liverpool ex-gangster Stephen French and footballer Ross Barkley.
This week, a judge gave Walker a serious dressing down for his conduct on social media, asserting "this is not a public bar, this is a court of law".
With a TikTok following of over 400,000, Walker was at Dublin District Court on Thursday, September 26, where he admitted to four separate driving offences.
However, during the proceedings, he began a live broadcast to his legion of followers, attracting about 2,500 viewers before the Gardaí intervened. Walker later said it was a "genuine mistake", claiming he was unaware that he was still streaming upon entering the court.
Judge Gerard Jones dismissed the argument, stating "it wasn't accidental, it was deliberate" as he doled out a contempt of court sentence. Walker flicked his middle finger up as he strutted out of the courtroom with a suspended sentence in tow.
Confronted by the Irish Mirror after his departure from court, Walker said: "I'm not leaving Ireland anytime soon. The Irish people in Dublin have treated me with nothing but respect so I want to do something for the local community before I leave which is food banks."
This isn't Walker's first brush with controversy over his online behaviour - he previously garnered notoriety for flaunting his social media clout while incarcerated, even managing to secure a phone he boasted cost him £3,000 to broadcast a video from maximum security prison at HMP Whitemoor in Cambridgeshire.
He shared a video onto his YouTube channel to show "what prison is really like".
Posting the illicit video, he greeted his 2,300 subscribers and disclosed his location, followed by insights about the types of convicts that were locked up alongside him.
His opening words were: "Welcome to Whitemoor, the maximum security facility which is full or terrorists, murderers and the most high security prisoners in the country."
To authenticate his claims, Walker showed off his prisoner ID card, confirming his incarceration in the facility subsequent to a theft conviction earlier that same year.
Walker has shared videos from various penal establishments, in a trail of digital breadcrumbs stretching back to 2018.
In 2020, Walker saw his jail term increased after he orchestrated the torching of prison officers' cars while incarcerated. He stirred up trouble at HMP Manchester, known as Strangeways, and then made threats to officers at HMP Durham following his transfer.
At Durham Crown Court, Walker was sentenced to an additional 18 months in prison after pleading guilty to six charges, including conspiracy to commit criminal damage.
Lately, Walker has been trying to reshape his social media image, showcasing his charitable deeds instead of his criminal activities.
On Thursday, September 26, Walker's lawyer Brian Keenan urged Judge Jones to proceed with his latest case. This plea came despite Detective Paul Cummins informing the judge that he was awaiting a report on Walker's convictions from other jurisdictions, arguing that a sentence was improbable.
Keenan mentioned his client's charity work in Sierra Leone, stating: "he was engaged in charity work and was due to travel back to the African nation."
Walker himself addressed Judge Jones, saying: "I've been to Sierra Leone for the last six months, west Africa. I've installed water for 25,000 in the villages. I documented all this online."
Earlier in the year, reports surfaced that Walker had been arrested in Sierra Leone after allegedly fleeing the UK in March while on bail from another arrest.
Walker's journey to Africa reportedly saw him chartering a private plane and racing across the Mediterranean by speedboat to dodge border checks after being stripped of his passport.
Claiming to journey to Sierra Leone to aid kids in desperate poverty, Walker took to TikTok and Instagram earlier this year to announce: "I'm going to the slums to get these kids their operations so they can see their families again."
But a friend of Walker's, contacted the Liverpool ECHO in July, anxious about his pal's apparent arrest. The friend said: "He's out in Sierra Leone and was doing a peaceful protest in the street. Then the police arrested him and put him in jail. That was four days ago. I'm really worried about him."
In one clip, a defiant Walker declared: "I will happily do prison. I don't give a s**t. You can put me in the most violent, filthy, unpredictable jail in the continent of Africa and I promise you I will come out with my head held high."
Probing if the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office had gotten wind of the rumoured detention, their spokesperson briefed the ECHO: "We supported a British man in Sierra Leone and were in contact with the local authorities."
Notably, Walker stirred the pot back in 2019 as well, following claims he'd stashed a mobile phone 'up his bottom', only to assert it was merely tucked between his legs.
During the court appearance concerning a device found in his cell at HMP Liverpool on September 18, 2018, the former drug dealer's defence David Woods emphasised it was "important to Mr Walker" to clarify where he hid the phone.
Mr Woods stated: "He says it was secreted at the top of his legs and wasn't secreted within his body. It's important perhaps that he makes that point clear."
Walker confessed to having the phone, which he said was used not for criminal activities but to stay in touch with people due to being denied access to social media.
Liverpool Crown Court had been told that prison officers observed Walker "fiddle round his buttocks as if concealing something".
Lionel Cope, prosecuting, detailed how officers conducted a thorough search, noting: "During this, he would only partially squat as if he had something secreted up his bottom. He was then asked to do a full squat and the mobile phone fell from his buttocks."
This week's court appearance in Dublin marked yet another chapter in Walker's extensive history with the law.
Judge Jones handed down a one-month jail term for contempt of court stemming from Walker's TikTok live stream but suspended it provided Walker avoids re-offending over the next two years.
Additionally, fines amounting to €500 were levied against him, and he received a two-year driving disqualification for the offences that initially brought him to court.
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